Sanunes wrote...
The problem I have with any poll done by people that are trying to prove a point is it will always be bias even if the bias isn't intentional because they already have a strong feeling on the subject, the other problem is generally people go looking for that poll so it would be influenced by the population that want to say something. The only poll I would even consider remotely accurate wouldn't be possible for it would require BioWare/EA/3rd Party to get into contact with people who bought the game and complete a survey that way.
Just remember because of online voting Wil Wheaton was voted FMH Sexiest Woman alive in 2002.
Agreed. This is called "confirmation bias" and it is a very serious problem. The correct approach is to hire a firm (and there are many very reputable firms that do nothing but polling and other stastical analysis), tell them what question or questions you want answered to what degree of certainty and then have nothing to do with them until they give their report.
While such firms are hardly free, a simple, scientifically accurate 500 person poll (which is FAR more than is needed to accurate survey a gross sample size of 4-5 million) isn't that expensive esp for the likes of EA or even the Bioware sub-division.
-Polaris